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Cultivating & Maintaining a Culture of Innovation

Cultivating and Maintaining a Culture of Innovation

Proven Principles and Best Practices

It’s a universally accepted fact of business: innovation is vital to
every company’s long-term success. What’s still wide open to debate is:
How does an organization successfully foster, establish, and sustain a
genuine culture of innovation? As Andrew J. Sherman, a noted expert on
intellectual property management and business growth, shows in his new
book, HARVESTING INTANGIBLE ASSETS (AMACOM, 2011), the answer can
be found in the trusted principles and practices of highly successful
innovative companies. They include:

* Google’s 70/20/10 rule. Each employee should spend 70
percent of his or her time working on the core business, 20 percent
working on ways to extend or expand the core, and 10 percent thinking
completely outside the box. At Google, the 20 percent window has been
very productive, yielding many of the company’s recent innovations,
including Gmail, Google News, and AdServe.

* 3M’s 30 percent/4 year rule. At 3M, 30 percent of total
sales must result from products introduced within the past four years,
forcing innovative products to have an almost immediate impact on the
top and bottom lines. This rule is supported by the 15 percent rule,
which allows technical personnel to spend 15 percent of their time on
projects of their own choosing without any prior approvals.

* Cast a wide net. Innovation can come from many sources—both
inside and outside a company. Look to customers, vendors, and even
competitors as sources for new ideas and guidance on improving existing
products and service. “Do not allow your culture to suffer from NIH (not
invented here) syndrome, which assumes that ideas not generated by the
leaders of the organization cannot possibly be worthy of consideration,”
Sherman urges.

* Stay close to customer needs. Innovation doesn’t pay unless
there’s a market for it. UPM, a Finnish paper manufacturer, has
established a novel practice to ensure that its R&D teams keep focused
on customer needs: brainstorming with value-chain players across the
paper industry, from large commercial printers to paper wholesalers and
retailers.

* Embrace the headless tiger. Microsoft continued to do it
without Bill Gates. Apple will continue to do it without Steve Jobs.
Since visionary founders and leaders don’t stay with their companies
forever, the company’s culture must be prepared to innovate with or
without their day-to-day presence. Team-driven innovation works to
create leaders at all levels that can sustain and strengthen the
founder’s vision long after he or she steps down. Maintaining a culture
of innovation depends on investments in training, commitments to
empowerment and delegation, and the development of meaningful succession
plans.

* Let the RATS in. An effective, ongoing innovation process
requires a systematic approach and commitment to the deployment of
“RATS”: Resources, including human capital, time, and
supplies; Advocacy, from both internal and external advocates who
will help secure resources and provide emotional support for innovative
projects; Testing and evaluation to predict the financial return
on the resources invested; and Sustainable demand, based on the
identification of target customers, markets, channels, and potential
strategic partners.

* Make it fun—and remain open minded. Fun can be
functional and productive. Game playing, role playing, experimenting,
exercises, retreats, and parties can all facilitate creative thinking.
Fun liberates the brain, allowing people to break down barriers and look
beyond what they’re expected to see. For example, consider Viagra. In
the early 1990s, Pfizer began testing a compound to treat certain
cardiovascular diseases. One of the observed side effects was not at all
what they expected. “Needless to say,” as Sherman observes, “a little
repackaging and repositioning, and the rest is history.”

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For single copy purchases of any AMACOM title, you can connect directly to the online retailer of your choice, from the list below, to buy the title you have selected. Most of our links will take you directly to that title on the site, making your shopping experience easier. You can also visit your local retailer, and if the book is not on their shelves they can special order it for you.

Buying in Bulk?

We have very competitive discounts starting at 5 copies, as well as personal service, for bulk orders. Simply contact our Special Sales Department. Call 800-250-5308 or 212-903-8420 and ask for Special Sales. You can also email: SpecSlsWeb@amanet.org